RYE CRISP
Old police station: Now what? … New art gallery … Aquarion hike OK'd … General Store for sale … Tax rate set … Sci-tech teacher honored … Pilot belly lands, is A-OK
Staff of Rye Reflections
Location, location, location? …
What to do with the old Rye police station? A variety of obstacles have handcuffed the Rye Board of Selectmen as they grapple with that issue.It's a prime location, diagonally across from Town Hall on Central Road, but too narrow to be build-able. The building is in bad condition, has mold and a broken-down boiler. The land it sits on is probably contaminated from who knows what when it was an old trolley "barn". Some believe oil was drained into the ground below the building years ago. "I think it should be razed," said Priscilla Jenness, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen at the Nov. 16 meeting.
Private interests have approached the Town about purchasing the property for mixed use, possibly as small retail outlets and office space, but the Selectmen are reluctant to give up public land.
Earlier suggestions for its use as a Senior Center or Recreation Department space have failed to get far, because of the cost of renovation and lack of parking.
"I'm not in favor of selling it. Lease? Yes," Jenness said. At one point Rye Water wanted to lease the building, and the proposal went so far as to get approved by Rye voters, but the arrangement didn't pan out. So the building has sat vacant for three years, following the police department's move into the new Public Safety Building.
"Why don't we seek out community members to recommend what to do with it," said Selectman Joe Mills.
And so serious consideration is underway with no easy solution on the horizon.
At one with color, brush …
House in Damariscotta, Maine.
Flower reflection.
Peg says she finds painting to be "meditative...like painting the soul with love, being at one with color and brush."
Fish house and pier. (Judy Palm photos)
KRISPY KRISPS …
- The Town of Rye has set its 2009 tax rate at $9.82, a 20-cent increase. Those who live in the Rye Beach District will be taxed at a rate of $10.04 per $1000 of assessed valuation; those in the Jenness Beach District $10 even and those in the Water District $10.30. The tax rate breakdown showed a .13-cent increase for the overall town budget, .01 for schools, .07 for state education costs and a decrease of .01 for the county. According to Assessor Howard Promer, Rye's tax is among the lowest 10 percent of communities in the state.
- The deadline for bids from contractors to build the 22 senior housing units at the old Rye Airfield site is Dec. 7. The Housing Partnership, which is developing Rye's first Retirement Community Development and will manage it, is hoping for a December groundbreaking.
- The Aquarion Water Company, which supplies parts of Rye, has been granted a 17.7% rate increase. Some of that hike had already been imposed, so the long and short of it, according to Vice President Harry Hibbard, that it costs the average household $16 to $18 more per quarter.
- The Rye General Store, at 2203 Ocean Boulevard, just south of Cable Road, is for sale or lease by WTG Real Estate, a year after having being renovated by Andy Widen, owner of Ray's Restaurant. Catering to beachgoers and an early-morning coffee bar clientele, the store still is known by some by its previous names, Philbrick's and Carberry's.
- A new Rosewood Mall shop, Sheva Jewelry Boutique, to the right of and behind Doyle's Cafe, on Route 1, is donating a portion of the proceeds from its 20-percent off sale held during an Open House on December 3 to www.BreastCancerStories.org. More information on its lines of
jewelry at Sheva's site: www.shevajewelry.com. - Talk about bad timing. The furnace at the Department of Public Works main building on Grove Road was found to have a crack in it in November. Rye officials were looking at a variety of options, including replacement, with input from Anix LLC consultant Tim Nichols.
Going with the flow …
Little River Marsh (Ken Palm photo)
About 2000 feet of degraded portions of the salt marsh will be excavated at a cost of some $80,000 in a project involving the N.H. Coastal Program at the Department of Environmental Services, the Rockingham County Conservation District, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the Town of North Hampton.
Nine years ago two new culverts built under Route 1-A improved tidal flow. This second step is expected to reduce standing water where mosquitoes breed and attract fish, such as mummichogs and sticklebacks which "feast on mosquito larvae," according to DES. Another benefit will be control of common reed, an invasive reed, according to an ecology for the conservation district, through the growing of cord grass and salt marsh hay.
PEOPLE IN NEWS …
- Sheila Adams, a seventh-grade science teacher at Rye Junior High School, has received the Susan Janosz Technology Award from the N.H. affiliate of the International Society for Technology in Education for her leadership and achievements the past 20 years.
- James L. Arcure, 61, of Rye, flying his own plane, survived a hard landing caused by the failure of his landing gear at Penn Yan Airport in New York on Nov.4. Arcure is owner an L29 Delfin jet. He experienced a hydraulics malfunction as he approached and had to execute a belly landing. After skidding almost the entire runway, he emerged uninjured and his plane had minimal damage. Gateway News Service quoted the county sheriff as saying Arcure did an amazing job.
- William Zechel, is facing removal for neglect of duty as an alternate member of the Planning Board. Donald Cavallaro, Planning Board chairman, has made the recommendation to the Board of Selectmen, who will hold a public hearing. The move was prompted by Zechel's absences from meetings.
- Jay Nadeau, a Rye resident and member of the Rye Zoning Board of Adjustment, has been retained as prosecutor for the Town of New Castle.
- John Diamond and Steve Genestreti have been elected to the board of directors of the Seacoast Science Center, where both have been played leading roles as volunteers. Diamond is a retired Executive VP for the N.Y. Stock Exchange/Securities Industries Automation Corp., where he worked for 34 years. Genestreti is Executive VP, Treasurer and CFO for Physical Sciences, Inc.
- Meanwhile, Rye and the Seacoast Science Center were saddened by the death on Nov. 7 of longtime resident Dr. Andrew Stewart, a retired pediatrician and Air Force officer. He served as a Science Center docent, monitoring plankton and red tide.
- Another leading Rye citizen, Ferris Bavicchi, 84, died on Nov. 3. Known for his philanthropy and civic engagement, Bavicchi was president of Iafolla Industries, a member of the Portsmouth Regional Hospital Board for nearly 40 years and was one of the founders of the Foundation for Seacoast Health.
- Ed Johnson, representing the Pease Greeters, and Dr. Don Albertson, longtime Emergency Room doctor at Portsmouth Hospital, were among the American Red Cross honorees at its seventh annual Heroes Breakfast with Governor John Lynch in attendance.
- Fire Chief William "Skip" Sullivan has had his contract extended for another year. Sullivan told the Selectmen he had only one stipulation. Their eyebrows raised. Sullivan then added that he wanted a day off for his birthday. "It's on December 25," he said.
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December, 2009
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